When the Saint comes, she does not collect food

Chapter 1052 The Key to Activating the Clock

The Holy See Building.

The slanting sunlight of late winter shone on Horn's ink bottle, giving it a faint purple hue.

A pile of unfinished documents lay on the table, including the list of the Gospels Proofreading Committee, the grain export quota table for each county in the Holy Union, and the engineering college's application for the Lightning Furnace...

Recent political events have been like a rising river, one wave after another.

After the Sixth Grand Council meeting, he was not idle at all; on the contrary, he became even busier due to a series of new projects, such as the embassy.

But Horn was looking down at the book in his hands.

This is the result of six months of translation and annotation by scholars of various levels, classical scholars, and wizards, including "The Secret Scroll of the Celestial Maiden" and "The Collection of Dragon Language Magical Terms".

To be precise, the original version of "The Celestial Maiden's Secret Scroll" consists of two parts.

The first half is primitive alchemy, and the second half is the dragon language magic that is the prototype of alchemy.

However, the latter half of the "Dragon Language Magic Dictionary" contains a large number of dragon language spells that cannot be converted into alchemy.

But there was no other way, as the Elites at that time seemed to be dominating the ether with something called the "Sacred Branch".

However, Horn has been unable to find a real-world counterpart for this sacred tree branch.

However, at that time, the Elites did not seem to have discovered the effects of broken dragon bones and magic.

If we use shattered dragon bones, can we recreate these so-called dragon language magics?
Horn wasn't sure, after all, judging from Cynthia's terrible appearance, she probably couldn't use most of her dragon language magic.

He thought that with the broken dragon bone and the "Celestial Maiden's Secret Scroll," he would soon be able to solve the problem of the ether clock's remote transmission.

But the reality is that it has been almost a year and there has been little progress.

Closing the book and rubbing his temples, Horn was asking himself if he had been too eager for quick success.
"Tuk tuk tuk..."

"Please come in." Horn, who was leaning back in his chair, sat up straight.

Edwin poked half his head in: "Your Majesty, His Excellency Leonardo requests an audience, but he is not on the schedule."

Horn raised an eyebrow and pushed the file aside: "Please let him in."

Say "Ether Clock," and Leonardo will appear.

This is the chief engineer of the project. He has never been involved in politics or land speculation, so it must be related to the Ether Clock project.

Leonardo strode in through the door, clutching a stack of papers tightly in his hand, his knuckles white.

He wasn't as casual as usual; instead, he seemed a bit reserved, standing in front of the table for a long time without saying a word.

"Sit down," Horn said, gesturing to the chair opposite him. "What do you need me for?"

Leonardo sat down, pushed the documents towards him, and said in a slightly hoarse voice, "This is a paper related to the ether clock; I think you should take a look."

Horn immediately gave Leonardo a strange look.

Although in terms of authority, Horn's power as pope was virtually unlimited, and he could "guide" almost everything.

But as he himself previously stated, politics should not be allowed to intrude into academia.

He tries to avoid getting involved in these specialized academic issues unless absolutely necessary.

"Is it important?"

“It’s very important, otherwise I wouldn’t have come to you.” Leonardo’s act of bypassing the review committee and using his right to meet with Horn to submit a paper was extremely taboo.

But he still decided to do it, not only for Lorton's future, but also for a breakthrough in the Ether Clock project.

Horn solemnly unfolded the document, and the opening title made his pupils shrink slightly.

On the duality of ether and the underlying logic of ether field resonance.

The former is Lorton's ether-based theory, while Leonardo added an ether field to Lorton's theory.

As he traced the words with his fingertips, Lorton's deduction began with the proof of the unity of ether, and step by step, he meticulously deduced that ether possesses duality.

It also explains why all matter has alchemical and natural properties.

Leonardo went even further, pointing out that ether itself possesses duality.

Materially, it manifests as an etheric field (magic); spiritually, it manifests as instantaneously transmitted energy (mana).

Horn could tell it was Leonardo DiCaprio's work, but he didn't sign it, probably because he was afraid of ruining his reputation.

Sunlight pierced through the clouds, illuminating the reasoning process on the document.

Horn read faster and faster, his breathing gradually becoming heavier, until he finally let out a long sigh after finishing. The duality of ether... how much it sounds like the wave-particle duality of light.

If it were a local, even one with a rationalist background, they would find such a counterintuitive conclusion absurd.

However, Horn, with his background in the wave-particle duality of light, does not reject this view.

If we set aside our biases, this paper is actually quite well-structured; the only problem is that it cannot be proven intuitively.

In fact, this is one of the reasons why Horn finds the world strange.

On the surface, this is the Kingdom of Leia and the Kingdom of Norn in the late Middle Ages, and the Kingdom of Norn in the south during the Renaissance.

The level of civilization in the Kingdom of Fran remained stagnant during the Reformation period.

Horn himself believed that the Holy Alliance had broken free from the Reformation and was gradually moving towards the Enlightenment.

But is that really the case?
The empire's level of civilization and technological level were extremely mismatched.

The Grand Knights of Leia in the late Middle Ages had an impact comparable to a large transport vehicle.

The Church of Norn during the Renaissance was able to heal fractures and other external injuries rapidly within three to five days.

As for the Kingdom of Fran during the Reformation, it employed a large number of apothecaries who could create potions with extremely terrible effects.

Some precious medicines can even extend lifespan and slow down aging.

This doesn't even include the wizards and witches of the Holy Alliance whose individual productivity rivals that of industrial machines.

Horn's hometown didn't enter the electric age until the 19th century, while Jeanne was able to manipulate lightning at will in the late Middle Ages.

Not to mention Carrie's mind-reading ability, Sylvie's microscope-like eyes, and so on.

Beneath the surface of what appears to be the Renaissance, the lower classes still lived the lives of serfs.

In other regions and among other social classes, the level of technology has even surpassed that of Horn's hometown in some areas.

For example, the miraculous technique of healing a comminuted fracture in five days, or the ability of an individual's physical strength to rival that of a car.

This has led to a situation where some areas of technological development are extremely backward, while others are extremely advanced.

Phenomena that cannot be observed with current technology, such as bacteria, can be seen with the naked eye by Shiloh.

If Horn's hometown is the technology tree, then this world is the technology gacha pool.

Without any mathematical formulas or measurement methods to back it up, Lorton proposed the outrageous concept of biphasicity.

Without Horn, Mr. Lorton Wood might have lived a life of poverty.

Perhaps his achievements will only be recognized after his death, when a witch who can observe ether with the naked eye suddenly appears, or a hundred years later someone develops an alchemical tool with similar functions.

Why not send this paper to Sylvie?

Leonardo smiled wryly and said, "Princess Sirof read it last year, and her comment was 'strange and absurd, the opinion of a fool.'"

Horn paused for a moment, then gave a helpless, bitter smile.

Although Sylph appears as a sweet and gentle girl in front of Horn, she is always a tyrant in her own domain.

Her best friend Jeanne almost caused a falling out when she barged into her lab, not to mention that this paper actually refuted Sylvie's "ether singularity".

Especially regarding her own academic achievements, she absolutely refuses to back down without absolute evidence.

In this respect, Lorton is quite similar to Sylvie.

Right is right, wrong is wrong; the truth will come out, and we will never back down.

"Do you have a way to verify this model?" Horn flipped to the end of the paper. "Can you do quantitative analysis?"

"This really doesn't exist."

"What about qualitative analysis? You're the head of the Ether Clock project, can't you design a qualitative experiment?"

"Yes, but it's very expensive."

“Money is meant to be spent.” Horn waved his large, imposing hand generously. “Give me a number.”

Seeing that Leonardo was still hesitating, Horn comforted him, "If you have any concerns, just say that it was my request, not yours."

It's my own decision, my decision alone, so what?

Leonardo finally breathed a sigh of relief: "I will send over the completed experimental design and budget plan by the day after tomorrow at the latest."

(End of this chapter)